Sputtering of silicon dioxide near threshold

The sputtering rate for silicon dioxide by argon ion bombardment at energies appropriate for ion beam deposition (<100 eV) has been measured. It has been found that the energy dependence of the oxide sputtering rate at these low energies is easily predicted by assuming the yield is limited by the metallic component of the binary target. This assumption is shown to predict also the sputtering rate of other metallic oxides.